Railway-spike.



RAILWAY SPIKE.

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UNITED sTATns THOMAS WM. CAREY, JR., OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

RAILWAY-SPIKE Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March '7. 1907. Serial No. 361.007.

T o all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, THOMAS W. CAREY, Jr., a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railway-Spikes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.`

The purpose of the invention is to provide a construction of a railway spike in which the body of the spike is practically of the same dimensions as the ordinary spike, ex-

cept the elevation of the head which is more than ordinary, and to so shape and secure the spike in the tie that it will have a most efficient bearing upon the flange of the rail and a perfect bond relatively to the tie, the spike being held in such way that it will be impossible for it to be jarred loose by the passage of a train, no matter whether the rails are closely mated or not.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts as will be hereinafter fully set forth and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure 1 is a section through a tie and a portion of a rail, and a side elevation .of the improved spike; and Fig. 2 is a rear end view of the spike.

A represents a railway rail, B the tie upon which it is laid, and C the improved spike. The spike C consists of a body portion 10 thatis of the conventional shape, and which is adapted to be driven as usual into the tie B, and the said body 10 of the spike is provided with a head 1 1 that is of greater height than ordinary, but which engages in the usual way with a flange 12 of the rail A, as is clearly shown in Fig. 1.v

A tang 13 is made integral with the head 11 of the improved spike, and the said tang extends outward from the head with a downward inclination and terminates at its outer end in an eye 14 adapted to lie flat upon the upper face of the tie B, while the. body portion of the tang 13 is at an elevation relatively to the said tie, as is also shown in'Fig. 1.

I The tang' 13 of the spike C is provided with a wedge-shaped spur 16 that extends from its under face adjacent to the aforesaid eye 14, and the said spur 16 when the spike is driven into the tie B, is also driven into the tie and the outer end of the tang 13 is l firmly held in engagement with the tie by l an auxiliary spike 15, or its equivalent, that is driven through the eye 14 of the tang into the said tie.

It is evident that by reason of the additional purchase on the body of the spike by reason of the spur 16 and the auxiliary spike or nail 15, and the tang 13 connected with the head 11 of the main spike, that the latter will be firmly held in the position in which it is placed, namely, in firm bonding engagement with the tie and with the flange of the rail in connection with which the spike is employed and it is furthermore evident that it will be impossible for the jarring of a rail to cause its confining spike to be worked up and out from the ties as sometimes occurs under ordinary conditions and the ordinary construction of spikes.

The spike vwith its added tang is very simple and is also economic, and can be applied as quickly and conveniently as an ordinary spike.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent,` A railway spike, consisting of a body having a head for engaging 'the flange of a rail, said head being of increased thickness, a tang projecting from the upper portion of the head, the tang being of less thickness than that of the head and standing at an acute angle to the body, forming an inclined brace,

the tang or brace terminating in a Hat hori- Izontal portion adapted to rest upon atie and apertured to receive a spike, and a wedge-shaped spur on the underside of the inclined tang or brace adjacent to the hori- Zontal portion.

In testimony whereof I have signed Amy name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

l THOMAS WM. CAREY, JR. l Witnesses: THos. E. DECKERT, l CHAs. WAYNE.

Patented Fab. 25, 1908. l 

